The object of the present invention is a ring twisting and winding spinning machine with autonomous and independent unitary production modules with direct motorised spindles, for simultaneous production of gathered and twisted threads of different diameters and natural and synthetic materials, in bobbins of different formats and dimensions.
The spinning and twisting machines existing at the present time, among them we can mention the one disclosed in PCT-WO 98/39504 of GALAN I LLONGUERAS xe2x80x9cModular machine for spinning and doubling with elements for transmitting individually the spindles with conical or double conical continuous and individual folding systemxe2x80x9d, comprising all of them three main units: a) a feeding unit in charge of supplying the machine with sets of unitary threads, in a continuous way, threads coming from a previous installation embedded at the machine and independent of it; b) a ring rail unit that is an element with ring shape, placed in a concentric way with the coil reel and independent of it and having an upward-descending vertical alternative movement in order to guide and place the thread on a certain point of finished product coil reel; and c) a spindle unit consisting of a motorised shaft on which a reel or tube is placed for rolling the thread delivered by the ring rail.
Considering the spindle as a production unit, all the existing machines consist of a multiple number of production units.
Any of the existing machines is provided with motorization systems which are, essentially:
for the feeding unit: a single motor and its corresponding variation and reduction speed system for the entire machine, so that the feeding speed of thread to every spindle is equal providing the delivery of the same length of thread by time unit. This feeding speed can be modified, but it is always identical for all the spindles of the machine, since all the feedings of the different spindles are carried out by mean of feeding turning rollers common to all lines or spinning spindles.
for the ring unit: a single motor and its corresponding system of reduction and variation of displacement speed and frequency of the ascending-descending movement of the ring rails along the reels, for the entire machine. This speed can be modified, but it is always identical for all the ring rails of the machine, since the transmission of the motor movement is carried out by means of singular elements common to all the ring rails.
for the spindles unit: either a single motor and its corresponding system of reduction and variation of the turning speed of the spindles for the entire machine; or a motor and its corresponding system of reduction and variation of the turning speed of the spindle for each spindle, in order that all the spindles of the machine can rotate at different speeds and with different rolling directions, as in the case of the mentioned patent WO 98/39504.
All these systems that have been progressively solving the different problems and inefficiencies posed at mass production of differentiated products of the textile factories, however, they don""t have capacity to solve all the following problems:
complete stops of machines originated by failures of common electric general elements of manoeuvre, like power supplies, programmer and other electric equipment.
complete stops of machines originated by failures in the supplying unit.
complete stops of machines originated by failures in the ring rail movement.
limited flexibility for simultaneous production of threads of different material and/or diameter, for the use of reels of different diameters, and for obtaining different folding forms and longitudes of reel, due to the fact that the speeds and rolling directions of the feedings and of the ring rails are obligatory equal for all the spindles of the machine, even more in those cases in that all the spindles of the machine have a common unique motorization.
excess of production capacity for small textile factories.
plant distribution not very versatile, as consequence of the longitudinal dimension of the spinning machines of multiple spindles, that should have all of them located in the same longitudinal plane due to the unity of the feeding unit and of the ring rail motorization.
Regarding to the feeding and ring rails units a ring twisting and winding spinning machine with autonomous and independent unitary production modules has been developed in order to solve the above mentioned problems, all of them caused by the impossibility to have reliability and flexibility for optimum production of different products in a machine which main movements are identical and they affect simultaneously to several production lines. Essentially, it means that each module is provided of an unique spindle with its corresponding ring rail and feeding.
It is necessary to describe the unitary module since the machine is constituted by an indefinite number of modules, only determined by the final user of unitary modules.
This unitary module is constituted by a frame formed by two vertical plates of steel foil, bent by its lower part in right angle, to house the lower supports of the module, said two plates being united to each other by means of horizontal bars, an inferior platform and a horizontal bed plate of steel foil bent in xe2x80x9cUxe2x80x9d,form, that will serve to support the spindle motor. The rigid structure, this way created, serves as support for all the groups forming the module, which will be housed between its two vertical plates of steel foil. This constructive form allows to join modules to each other, embedding them laterally and fixing them to each other by means of screws that join the mentioned vertical plates, so that a machine is formed, whose number of modules can be as high as it is physically possible, and it only depends on the characteristics of the premises where it will be placed. Even more, joining of adjacent modules can be carried out in other different ways, by means of intermediate connection pieces, so that the machine formed by several modules can have an arrangement in plant, either rectilinear or open or closed polygonal, therefore the machine being adaptable to the form in plant of the premises.
The spindle unit is installed on the horizontal bed plate of foil above mentioned. The motor of this spindle unit is screwed to the bed plate lower part, with its vertical shaft upward; this motor is an alternating current, triphasic, asynchronous and of high efficiency and its output speed is controlled by a frequency variator. It is provided of an integrated pulse detector that controls the number of revolutions. Between the bed plate of steel foil and the motor some stabilisers are placed to soften vibrations that can be produced by the spindle operation, so that they are not transferred neither to the rest of the components of the module nor to the adjacent modules. The motor output shaft is a Morse taper on which the spindle is mounted, this is a vertical shaft that can adopt different forms, on which is mounted the reel or tube in that the thread is coiled, reel which rotates together with the spindle by means of some dragging pieces. The motor shaft has a protecting piece to avoid remains of thread being coiled in it.
The ring rail unit is constituted by the driving system, the ring support, the ring, the traveller and the control hoop. The driving system consists of an alternating current asynchronous triphasic motor-reducer controlled by a frequency variator, a traction geared belt with its corresponding guide pulleys and a carriage with rollers that is moved alternatively by this belt along vertical guides in ascending and descending way with a frequency and according to a sequence predetermined by means of a functions programmer that will be described below; a pulse generator controls the position and speed of the driving carriage. A support of bent steel foil, in which is housed the ring, is fixed to this driving carriage in a concentric way with the spindle and the reel by which circumference the traveller circulates, which is the piece that guides the thread in its coiling along the reel giving at the same time a torsion predetermined by means of the above mentioned functions programmer. A control hoop, also concentric with the spindle, and its reel avoids the convex effect due to the centrifugal force of the thread that will enter in the reel; this control hoop can be mounted on the ring support or have an independent movement, generated in the same way as the ring. A cowling in front of the spindle protects the operator against the possible impact of a loosened traveller off the ring and against the risk of entanglement with the thread that is entering in the spool.
The feeding unit, located in the upper part of the module, is constituted by an asynchronous triphasic alternating current motor controlled by a frequency variator and provided with a pulse detector that controls the number of revolutions. This motor is arranged with its output shaft in horizontal position that, through a properly protected geared belt, transmits its movement to two horizontal traction cylinders made of chromed steel that rotate at the same speed and with the same rolling direction and they pull the thread toward the spindle. A third horizontal cylinder, parallel to the previous ones, not motorised, of chromed steel or with rubber coating and mounted on an arm that can rotate over a horizontal shaft, rests by gravity on the other two cylinders, thus transmitting an appropriate tension to the thread that circulates between this two pulling cylinders and the pressure roller; this horizontal pressure roller can be raised to eliminate said pressure. On the horizontal fixed turn shaft of the arm of the pressure cylinder, a pulley is mounted that picks up the thread at its output of the traction rollers and it directs the thread toward the yarn guide, which is a piece fixed to the frame with a hole at one end, by which the thread is crossed to its path toward the traveller of the ring rail unit.
The three motors (feeding, ring rail, spindle) are provided with frequency variators that are housed in the electric operation and control rack made of steel foil located at the rear part of the module and mounted on some vibration proof pieces, and said motors are controlled and synchronised by a programmer of functions located in the machine frontal cowling, that controls all operation variables or parameters of each module. The programmer of functions consists of a control card, a keyboard and a display which allows to introduce, modify and control the key parameters, as the feeding speed, the speed and sequence of movement of the ring rail in order to set the types of bobbins to form and the speed and turning direction of the spindle and other optional accessories. The same parameters can be introduced in a collective way in several modules simultaneously it is desired. This can be done by a master functions programmer through that by means of a communications bus, transmits the same instructions to the programmers of the selected modules, so that individual parameters of each module can be modified independently at any moment.
The ring twisting and winding spinning machine with autonomous and independent unitary production modules has a series of advantages essentially originated by a complete freedom and flexibility of selection of the working parameters of the three main units of each module:
It allows to obtain bobbins of different formats and dimensions in several modules simultaneously (see examples in FIG. 7) since the speed, excursion and movement sequence of each ring rail is independent, being able to reach in each module a different bobbin height (variable between about 200 and 800 mm).
It allows to modify the rolling direction of the feeding rollers of a module, as they are independent for each module.
It ensures the obtention of the highest density of reels filling for every module of the machine simultaneously, because it is possible to set the ring rail speed individually in each module as a function of the thread thickness.
It ensures the obtention of the maximum production capacity in each of the modules of the machine because:
Capacity =feeding speed (m/minute) =speed of spindle (r.p.m.)/twist (turns/m)
and being the twist a constant only dependent from the physical characteristics of the thread to process, the possibility of setting the allowed maximum speed of the spindle for each module ensures the possibility to obtain the maximum production capacity per each module.
It is possible to produce threads of different physical characteristics in different modules of a machine achieving in each module the maximum capacity depending on the thread type and the desired form of bobbin as a consequence of the above-mentioned features, and since the drivers of the spindles and feedings are independent.
The machine can be constituted by any number of independent modules and it can be enlarged by unitary modules, since each module has independent drivers.
Since it doesn""t exist common elements between modules, addition of new modules to machines in productive process can be made without stopping their operation.
Mechanics as well as electric or electronic failures of a module don""t affect to any other module.
The machine distribution plant is completely versatile and must not necessarily be linear as usually, since there are no common drive elements
The machine installation in the factory is much simpler than the usual and it can be carried out by the customer itself, since there are not large structures to be mounted, aligned and levelled, therefore the starting of the production process is much faster.
On the other hand, the spindle driven in a direct way by the motor, without transmissions, has the advantage of not producing mechanical noises neither vibrations, besides of a more reduced maintenance because transmissions to lubricate and set gage are not necessary.